Universal Delays Troubled ‘Dark Tower’ Project

The first installment of "Dark Tower," an ambitious and now troubled project that involves three movies and a television series, won't start shooting on time because Universal is still trying to figure out whether to proceed with it at all, TheWrap has confirmed.

Production on what writer Stephen King has called his "magnum opus" was supposed

to begin this summer. That's too soon to be possible.

One thing is clear: There's a short window. If the project doesn't get going by July 2012, the rights revert to King.

Comcast's corporate culture leans toward the frugal, and the very expensive "Dark Tower" clearly has attracted the attention of the people in charge of the money. They're paying attention and have proven their willingness to make cuts. In March, the studio scrapped plans to make Guillermo del Toro's $150 million adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "Mountains of Madness."